The job you always dreamed you would have!

Sometimes the ideal job becomes the one you cannot run from fast enough. Things change, particularly in medical practices and the ambiguity is sometimes disruptive and stressful. If you are considering a change remember that this job is not your last and you will likely change positions several more times as work and personal changes occur in your life.

I ask physicians where they would like to practice if there were no restrictions. Invariably, the responses are similar: Austin, Nashville, the SF Bay Area, Seattle, Raleigh Durham, DFW, Miami, Boston, Ann Arbor, NYC, Washington, DC and on and on. Today, I tell them everyone wants to be in the same places. Over half of active practicing physicians, or 576,402, practice in 10 states: NY,CA, TX, PA, IL, FL, MA, NJ, OH, and MI. Remember the law of supply and demand and how it applies to medicine https://www.statista.com/statistics/250141/us-states-with-highest-total-number-of-active-physicians/ Good advice to remember.

However, even in this employment market when jobs are plentiful in most specialties and when many physicians will start their first job within weeks of completing training, it’s not prudent to delay beginning the search for two key reasons. For one, trainees who have their sights and hearts set on a particularly desirable urban area will find that many comparably qualified colleagues have the same idea. In addition, the final year of training is typically jammed as it is, so trying to compress opportunity exploration, in-site interviews, contract finalization, and pre-employment paperwork completion into a matter of six months is, at the least, a recipe for high stress levels.

Opinions differ among recruiters regarding exactly when residents should launch their job search in earnest, but they concur on this point: Physicians who have ideal-job criteria or special life circumstances should begin exploring opportunities as early the summer before their final year and at the latest, January of the following year.. The professional criteria might be, for example, a very short list of facilities that have the appropriate population, offer surgical equipment or sub-specialty support services, or a desire to work in a specific or uncommon setting. It is important for residents and fellows to remember that if their counterparts are already looking for jobs early in their final year and potential employers are talking to them before the final year, they probably should not wait too long to start looking

Earlier Start Usually Expands Options

Aside from interviewing and travel time required, a minimum time that residents should to finalize the entire process — from inquiring about opportunities to going on site visits to accepting an offer and finalizing the contract will take six to nine months. Not entirely unexpected is the length of time required to become credentialed. In some hospitals you can not begin the credentialing process until after becoming licensed in the state. In some regions of the country, especially with health systems I have witnessed some applications take up to 5 months. Best advice, complete the application, get on your reference letters, and stay on top of the CVO so they have a complete package when sent to the MSO.

This is not the last job you will have

Many residents waste time and agonize over the selection process. It is important to remember that this is not the last job you will have. The reality is it is more like the first in a line of different jobs over your career